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RetroDECK ‐ Story & Philosophy

RetroDECK's Story: How RetroDECK was born?

351E Deck logo

Let's take a step back.

RetroDECK was born on March 4th, 2022, in Kyoto, Japan, originally under the name 351EDECK.

I am also one of the founding members of 351ELEC (now AmberELEC). My initial goal was to "port" 351ELEC to the Steam Deck. But rather than creating custom firmware to flash, I wanted to deliver it as a full application that could be launched directly from Steam.

After discussing with the 351ELEC team, we decided not to support another platform like the Steam Deck. I chose to continue the project independently and renamed it RetroDECK.

Early on, I explored several ways to package 351EDECK: a bash script, AppImage, or Flatpak. Initially, I opted for a simple shell script, and RetroDECK (aka 351EDECK v0.1a) existed only as a script.

However, the community raised concerns about security and people were hesitant to grant root privileges to a random script downloaded from the internet. Evaluating the Steam Deck use case, I realized that approach was not suitable. Users wanted a safer, packaged solution.

Valve recommends Flatpak for porting applications to the Steam Deck. Following their guidelines, I reworked the project into the RetroDECK we know today. Development started on a Manjaro virtual machine, as I didn’t yet have access to a Steam Deck.

// Xargon (Project Founder)

RetroDECK's Development Philosophy

Emulation, engine re-implementations, fantasy consoles, and related projects are global, multi-generational efforts fueled by a shared love of video game preservation. RetroDECK depends on the ongoing work of these projects: emulators, front-ends, game engines, systems, assets, and more. It would be unfair to claim credit, obscure their contributions, or monetize their work for our own gain. Their software is what makes running these games possible RetroDECK is just the platform that brings it together.

We fully support free and open-source video game preservation and reject predatory profit models. RetroDECK is committed to openness: there will be no misleading donation schemes or artificial divides between paying and non-paying users.

We aim to maintain strong, respectful relationships with the teams behind the third-party software we rely on. Everyone involved in RetroDECK is deeply grateful for their work...without these projects and passionate contributors, RetroDECK simply wouldn’t exist.

For more information on our dependencies and how to support them, see the Donations & License page on our wiki.

To the developers of third-party projects:

We warmly invite you to reach out, share your ideas, and collaborate with us.

Your feedback and suggestions are invaluable. You are the backbone of RetroDECK, and we deeply appreciate your contributions.

// The RetroDECK Team

Inspiration for RetroDECK

RetroDECK is inspired by embedded emulation systems like:

  • AmberELEC
  • EmuELEC
  • CoreELEC
  • Lakka
  • Batocera

The RetroDECK team includes veterans from some of these projects as well as other talented individuals.

Long Term Vision and Goals of the RetroDECK Project

The long-term vision and goals of the RetroDECK project are to create an all-in-one application to manage your entire retro games library.

The application should:

Goal / Feature Description
Pre-configured Work seamlessly with your games out of the box.
Disaster Recovery & Multi-device Support Include cloud saves and synchronization across devices.
Easy Installation One-click installation process.
Console-like Experience Provide a user experience similar to consoles or Batocera.
ROM/Mods Management Easily manage collections of ROMs, mods, and ROM hacks.
In-app Configuration Configure the system without exiting RetroDECK.
Components Integration Tight integration with bundled components and expose more features to end users.
Security & Stability Ensure the application is secure, safe, and stable.
Input Management Simplify managing external controllers and other input devices.
Broad Component Support Support most components in ES-DE, providing at least one good option per system.
Support for Other Apps Include applications outside the scope of ES-DE.
Plug-and-Play Portable solution: dock to a TV and start gaming immediately.
Platform Support Fully support Steam Deck, Linux Desktop, HTPCs and other such Linux-based handheld devices.